His Brother's Wife by Margaret Tanner

Author:Margaret Tanner [Tanner, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-03-05T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

William and Mattie – Castlemaine

It took seven months for Will to journey to Australia, the land of his birth, and to make his way to Wilbur’s farm. Purposely, he had kept well away from any large town in the unlikely case his face was on a ‘Wanted’ poster.

The life stretching out before him was bleak, but he inhaled the perfume of the gum trees growing near the road, felt the warm sun on his back. Colorful birds flew skyward, startled by his approach. Dust, kicked up by the horse’s hooves swirled around him.

In the distance he could see mounds of dirt and a few dusty, ragged tents on the once busy goldfield. It was virtually empty now, ghostly except for a few hardy or desperate souls trying to eke out a living from the unforgiving earth.

Over eleven years he had been gone, and the farm hadn’t changed much he realized as he veered off the road. He had spent only a few weeks here at the farm after the family had shifted from Ballarat.

Smoke drifted from the homestead chimney. Sheep grazed in paddocks with poorly maintained fencing. It was a wonder they didn’t escape and wander off. From somewhere close by, the lowing of cattle drifted to him on the slight breeze. White pebbles strewn all over the property, shimmered in the afternoon sun.

A shot from close by knocked the hat off his head. Sonofabitch, someone was trying to kill him.

“Get off my land.” A man carrying a rifle stomped toward him. “Next time I’ll blow your head off.”

“Wilbur, what the hell are you doing?”

“Will?” Wilbur moved closer, but there was no welcome in his cold eyes.

“Yes, you damn near killed me.”

“It was a warning shot. I don’t like trespassers.”

“I’m not trespassing, I’m your brother.” Will dismounted, and looped the reins through his arm.

“I didn’t know that. What do you want?”

“To stay for a while, I’m not long back from America.”

“This is my place,” Wilbur growled.

He had always been a surly brute. “Half of it belongs to me.”

“No. Pa signed it all over to me.”

“What!” Will couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“He thought you were dead.”

“So, you’re not going to let me stay until I decide what I’m going to do?”

“If you work for your keep you can stay.”

“Sounds fair.”

“I’ve got a wife.”

“What!” I’m beginning to sound like a parrot. Who would marry a surly brute like Wilbur? The years hadn’t mellowed him, he was exactly the same. Strange was the word that jumped into his mind first. Dangerous quickly followed. Fleetingly, a look of madness had flared in his eyes, quickly replaced by animosity.

Wilbur obviously still held his childhood hatred of him. He shouldn’t have come here. Wouldn’t have, had he anywhere else to go. Miles from town, isolated, the farm had seemed the perfect place to lie low for a time. He had forgotten what his twin was like. They were identical in looks, but nothing else, thank God.

They walked toward the house. Out the back, Will spied someone hoeing the garden.

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